Anyone Have Their Child Evaluated for Speech?

[njrohe]

My son is 21 months old and says only a few words.  He may say a phrase like "all done" but then I'll never hear him say it again.  When he was 12 months he said many things, but now only few, and mispronounces words he used to pronounce correctly.  In any case, his pediatrician is sending him to be evaluated.  

I am pretty sure he's not autistic.  He is very interactive and wants a lot of participation from me in his projects.  I know he hears because he comes running from the other room to watch certain commericals he likes.  

My question, have any of you had your child evaluated for speech?  What was the outcome?

[Whitneylauren]

My son has been diagnosed with PDD- NOS (Pervasive developmental delay not otherwise specific). This basically means that he is developmentally delayed in all areas and has been since birth. As I understand it, there are many variations of PDD and some are affected more than others. PDD is not full blown Autism, but is in the spectrum. He is extremely social, communicative, and loving. His speech skills are far behind what they should be. He sees a speech therapist as well as an occupational therapist twice a week and that has really helped him. He does not take any meds (even if they tried I would not let him take them).
My suggestion would be to get your son examined by a child psychologist- try and get a diagnosis. The main issue you may have is that it seems that your son once had skills and has now regressed. This has never happened with us, but I know that it is not a good sign.
Also all over the nation schools have programs for little children who have developmental issues. Even if he doesn't have PDD you I think at 2 you can get him evaluated by trained professionals. They will develop an IEP (individual education plan) and he can start going to school twice a week and work on his developmental skills. Call you district office to get more info. My son entered the same program at 3, but if we had known about it at two he would have gone, and he loves it... we were told about it by a child psychologist in our church.

[njrohe]

Yes, the speech regression is a big concern to me.  Have you heard of anyone having that turn out to be nothing?

[Elyz1214]

My son had BIG time speech regression also. He started developing his speech normally and around 18 months he completely stopped speaking. We had him evaluated for speech, autism, even his hearing and we ended up getting speech therapy for him. He had other autistic "signs" like he had a hard time dealing if something was out of place, he liked patterns and was just weird for lack of a better word. However he was always snuggly, had good eye contact, etc so they said he wasn't autistic.

The speech therapy seemed struggling/slow at first, when he was 3 he had the speech level of a 15 month old and I was still devastated. By the time he was about 3 1/2 or 4 (he is 9 now) he finally picked up and started speaking a lot more. His speech is fine now but I cannot te you the amount of sleep I lost and concern I had over it for YEARS.

If your insurance covers it, it doesnt hurt to get a speech eval or speech therapy - we went through Easter Seals so didnt have to pay anything.

[Diane1003]

I can't speak to speech regression but I have friends/family that have had early speech interventions be successful.  That was great advice to contact the local school district to find out about having your son evaluated.

[mommyoftwo28644]

My son went through the same thing at 12 months he jibbered (sp?) words all day long then at 18 months maybe 10 words tops. He went the the evaluation and was under a Family worker that kept up with his development and I was told that this happens alot amoung only children that are with there parents daily mostly with boys. They gave him the speach therapy and any other services he needed. Then when he turned three he went under the school system where he received preschool services and we held him back a year after that and he is the smartest one in his class and doesn't need any help with anything anymore. Good Luck I hope you have a Merry Christmas

[njrohe]

Thank you all so much!  You are really giving me hope, especially the part about it being common with boys that are kept home with their parents, as I am an at-home-mommy.  I am really struggling to stay calm until he can be evaluated, which I am worried may be several weeks due to the upcoming holiday.  Please pray.

[JoyRenee]

So I am reading the comments and noticed something. All of you have sons that have this speech regression or speech issue. Is it more prominent in boys? I know that boys' speech development is usually later than girls.

My 20-month old daughter says quite a bit and repeats everything we say, or tries to. But I have a nephew who is 4 months older than her and he says a few things but mostly grunts. So just wondering if this is predominantly a boy thing? I know that my SIL wasn't told that her son needed to be evaluated and he was just normal and too young for that.

As far as pronounciation--- it's still way too early for him to pronounce everything perfectly. Most small children slur letters or say things like, "Pwease" instead of "Please". By the time he is 4-years-old his speech should be understandable to non-family adults.

And it could also be a personality-thing. The evaluation should be able to tell you if he's doing it on purpose or if he seriously needs help. Most speech problems are corrected but I honestly think you're little one is too little to be evaluated. Some children just develop at different rates. Unless your gut is telling you something is wrong, of course, because I believe in mother's intuition.

[JoyRenee]

I have to add that my little brother had speech problems. He was in elementary school (maybe kindergarten-first grade) before a speech therapist was brought into the picture. I don't remember much because as his sibling I could understand him and "interpret" for him. I think he just mumbled and slurred his words.

It didn't take long for the speech therapy at all. Most kids like the activities associated with their therapy. He was speaking normally within a year, I think. It was so long ago and I was so young it's hard to remember. But he is 19 now and fine.

[BTS1022]

My sister had this very issue. Her son is 7 and was talking very clearly and had a large vocabulary, until he was 22 months. At 22 months his speech went down the drain.

I don't want to scare you.....but he was diagnosed with severe Autism. He has since developed major mood swings and anger issues, high tolerance of pain...he had a nail go through his shoe, and into the bottom of his foot, and he never once cried or even mentioned it to his mother, she only noticed it after she took his shoe off and noticed the blood soaked sock.

He started off with mild autism, first the speech, then anger outbursts, and then the tolerance of pain. He was tested for school, because where she lives, your autistic child must meet requirements to go to a special school. He was tested at 5 years old, and given the results of having the mentality of a 2 year old. He is 7 and his mentality level has not changed.